Piston-actuated mechanism.



O. M.MOGK, A. U. GERBER 6: H. GORDBLL.

PIBTOK AGTUATBD MECHANISM.

APPLIOA'HOI I'ILED APR. 14. 1911.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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UNITED STATES FiailENT OFFICE.

CfiABI-ES M. MOCK, OF KENILWORTH, AND ARTHUR U. GERBER AND HENRY CORDELL,

or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

* all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES M. Moon, a citizen of the' United States, residing at Keni'lworth, in the county of'Cook and State of Illinois, and ARTHUR U. Gunman and -HENRY Cononnn, citizens of the United States, both residing at the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Piston-Actuated Mechanism, of

which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to piston actuated mechanism and is particularly serviceable for opening and closing the sliding doors used on the coaches of elevated railroads. In the devices heretofore used for this purpose, accidents have frequently occurred owing to the sudden slamming of the door against the arm or leg of a passenger; while 24,) in other instances great inconvenience has been caused by the catchin of clothing between the door and the jamb, which clothing could not be released without opening the door wide and thereby risking further accidents.

It is the object of our invention to provide simple means whereby the door may be quickly and positively opened and closed,

but with the final movement in either direcslamtion diminished in speed so as to avoid lllil'lg and to allow a passenger to draw back any projecting limb. Also to permit the door to be opened slightly for the withdrawal of any clothing that may have been caught during the closing, without opening the same far enough to endanger those standing close to it.

We will explain our invention more fully by reference to the accompanying drawings,

40 showing the preferred "embodiment thereof,

"in which-- Figure 1 is a simplified diagram showing the principle of our invention as applied to the initial opening of a sliding door.

Fig. 2 is a similar diagram showing the ar- -rangemcnt of the operating mechanism during the latter part of the stroke when closing a sliding door. Fig. 3 is a section showing our invention in detail as applied to the moving of a sliding door; Figs. 4 and 5 are sections of another type of the throttling valve which forms a part of our invention.

In the drawings,

, A is a piston rod connecting the piston B to the object to be i Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 14, 1911. Serial No. 621,172.

'Inoved, such as Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

a door D, the connection being preferabl made through a spring S.

G is a cylinder, preferably of brass, in which the piston is adapted to be moved by the admlssion of a fluid, preferably compressed air, from asupply pipe E throu h a passage F connected with one end of t e cylinder.

G is a passage through which the exhaust can escape from the other end of the cylinder into an exhaust pipe H.

K is a control valve for alternately connecting the supply and exhaust pipes E and H to the passages F and G, either as indicated by Fig. 1 or in the reverse direction, as indicated-by Fig. 2.

IA and L are plungers adapted to close the passages 1* and G when depressed by flexing diaphragms M and M against these pl1mgers.ll1esc diaphragms beingpreferabl y made of leather.

N and N are auxiliary passages forming lay-passes around the parts of the passages F and G which may thus be closed by plungcrs, which auxiliary passages when considered in connection with the passa es to which they are auxiliary, constitute iturcated passages; O and O are screws for adjusting the area of these lay-passes, these screws being preferably locked in position by locking caps T and T.

l. and P are valve chambers in which the plungers L and L are adapted to slide, these plungers 1he passages F and G by springs Q. and Q.

ll. and R are openings leading from the cylinder (1 into the valve chambers P and l.

hen the control valve K is turned as in Fig. l, the compressed air is admitted to the right hand and of the cylinder, thereby moving the piston rapidly toward the left. The air ahead of the piston is freely pushed out through the passage G, which is bifurcated at N into the exhaust pipe H. As soon as the piston has passed the opening R, compressed'air from the cylinder enters through this into the chamber P, flexing the diaphragm M and depressing the plunger L, closing themain exhaust passage G. The exhaust can then continue only through the much smaller area of the by-pass N and as this will not allow the air ahead of the piston to escape as fast as the piston has been moving, this air is compressed, thereby cushfluid passing into the cylinder;

i oning the piston and n reversing the connections by turning the control valve K as .shown in Fig. 2, the compressed air is admitted to the left-hand end of the cylinder and the exhaust escapes freely throu h the passage E until the piston has passed 1; e opening R 2, when the air from the cylinder enters the valve chamber P througah this opening R, flexin .the diaphragm against the plungerto depress the same and thereby close the main passage E. Being then restricted to the small auxiliary by-pass N for its escape the air remaining ahead of the piston will be compressed, thereby checking the speed of the piston during the remainder of its stroke.

While we have shown the throttling valves P and P as operating by having plungers close the main exhaust pasages so as to restrict the exhaust to by-passes of smaller 1 area, we do not wish to be limited to this construction, as the throttling of the exaust passages may be accomplished under our invention by various other arrangements. Thus, Fig. 4 shows a throttling valve for use with an exhaust passage having no by-pass, the plunger L having a transverse perforation normally forming a full sized portion of the exhaust passage, which perforation is diminished in effective area when the plunger is depressed as shown in Fig. 5 against an adjustlng stop 0 p In using our invention for operating sliding doors, we preferably insert a spring S between the piston rod A and the door D, the force of this sprin bein less thanthat of the air pressure ehin the 'c linder. Should a garment become squeezed etwecn the door and the jamb when the door is closed by the piston, the door maybe slid open far as the spring can readilybe compressed without moving the piston, whereupon the spring will return the door to its closed position.

While we have herein shownand par-tic ularly described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we do not wish to be lim ited to the precise details of construction shown, as changes may readily be made without'dcparling from lhc spirit ofi our invention, but, I

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to cover by Letters Patent the following:-

1. Mechanism of the class dcscribed'ineluding a cylinder having lluid entrance and exhaust passages communicating with oppositc ends of the cylinder; a piston adaptcd to be rcciprocatcd within the cylinder by a throttling plunger working within the 'exhaust passage; and a flexible diaphragm governing the position of the plungerand operating,

f its stroke.-

as shown in Fig.

'diap ragm to flex t adjusting theextent to which the cl ud ing cd to be reciprocatcd phrag iln 2. echanism of the class described including a cylinder having fluid entrance and exhaust passages communicating with oppojsite ends of the cylinder; a piston, adapted to be reciprocated within the cylinder by fluid passing into the cylinder; a throttling plunger working within the exhaust passage; and a flexible diaphragm governing the position of the plunger and operating, when flexed from normal position, to cause the said plunger to throttle the exhaust passage; there being an opening in the cylinder intermediate of its ends through which the iston-actuatin fluid may pass to the is same; and means for, exhaust passage is throttled by the plunger when the plunger is actuated.

3. Mechanism .of the class described ineluding a cylinder having bifurcated eni trance and exhaust passages communicating with opposite ends ofthe cylinder for-ad nnttmg and emitting a fluid; a piston adapted to he reciprocated within the cylinder by fluid passing into the cylinder; a valve adjtlCChi} lo the aforesaid bifurcated exhaust passage and serving, when actuated, toclose one forlcof the said of the plunger and operating, when flexed from normal position, to-actuate the said valve; there being an openin in the cylinder intermediate of its ends 't rough-which the fluid may pass to the diaphragm to flex thesame. 1

4. l\'lechan ism of the class described ina cylinder having bifurcated entrance and exhaust passages communicatin with opposite ends of the cylinder for ad niitting and emitting a fluid a piston adaptwithin the cylinder by bifurcated passage;and a flexible diaphragm governing the position fluid passing into the cylinder; a valve adjacent to the aforesaid bifurcated. exhaust passage and serving, when actuated,to close one fork of the said bifurcated passa e;

there being an opening in the cylinder 1n-' tcrmcdiatc of its ends through which the fluid may pass to the'diaphragm to flex the same; and means for varying the area of the uncloscd fork of the bifurcated exhaust passa e. Mechanism .of the class described, including a cylinder having' fluid entrance and exhaust passages communicating with opposite'ends of the cylinder; :1 piston adapted to be reciprocatcd"within the cylinder by fluid passin into the cylinder; a valve chamber adjaceht to the exhaust passage' and cdminunicating with the intcrlor of the cylinder intermediate of its ends; and a valve in said chamber subject to the (pressure of the fluid within the cylinder an serving to throttle ghedexhaust passage when actuated by the 6. Mechanism of the class described, including a cylinder having fluid entrance and exhaust passages communicating with 0pposite ends of the cylinder, each of the said passages being bifurcated; a piston adapted to be reciprocated within the cylinder by fluid passing into the c linder; a valve chamber adjacent to the ex aust passage and communicating with the interior of the cylinder interme iate of its ends; and a valve in said chamber subject to the pressure of the fluid within the cylinder and serving to close one fork of the bifurcated exhaust passage when actuated b the fluid.

7. Mechanism of the class described, including a cylinder having fluid entrance and exhaust passages communicating with opposite ends of the cylinder; a piston adapted to be reciprocated Within the cylinder by fluid passing into the cylinder; a valve chamber adjacent to the exhaust passage and communicating with the interior of the cylinder intermediate of its ends and a valve in said chamber subject to the pressure of the fluid within the cylinder and serving to throttle the exhaust passage when actuated by the fluid; the communication between the valve chamber and the interior of the cylinder being so situated that the valve chamber will be connected to the exhaust portion of the cylinder during the early part of the stroke of the piston, but will be connected to the fluid-pressed end of the cylinder after the piston has passed a predetermined point of its stroke.

8. Mechanism of the class described, including a cylinder having fluid entrance and exhaust passages communicating with 0pposite ends of the cylinder, each of the said passages being bifurcated; a piston adapted to be reciprocated within the cylinder by fluid passing into the cylinder; a valve chamber adjacent to the exhaust passage and communicating with the interior of the cylinder intermediate of its ends; and a valve in said chamber subject to the pressure of the fluid within the cylinder and serving to close one fork of the bifurcated exhaustpas sage when actuated by the fluid, the communication between the valve chamber and the interior of the cylinder being so situated that the valve chamber will be connected to the exhaust portion of the cylinder during the early part of the stroke of the piston, but will be connected to the fluid-pressed end of the cylinder after the iston has passed a predetermined point of its stroke.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, this 11th day of April A. D. 1911, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES M. MOCK. ARTHUR U. GERBER. HENRY CORDELL. Witnesses:

E. B. FLENNER, J. T. HAYES. 

